Loss of cabin pressure can have fatal outcomes

LOSS of cabin pressure is not infrequent on passenger planes but occasionally it can have fatal consequences.

Three years ago, a pressure problem led to a Boeing 737 crashing in Greece with the loss of 121 lives.

There had been a crucial error on the Helios Airways flight in that the pressurisation control had been left in manual rather than automatic — a fault not spotted by the cockpit crew.